I have been tagged by my new friend in Texas,
Laura, here it goes.
8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. Friday Night Lights (I am a CRAZY football fan)
2. CSI Miami
3. What Not to Wear (sometimes I find myself guilty of the same fashion no-no's)
4. The Cosby show (I may have seen EVERY episode)
5. Sex and the City (Guilty Pleasure)
6. King of Queens (one of my favorites too, Laura)
7. Las Vegas (It comes on after FNL)
8. Hmmm...this was harder than I thought, we don't watch much TV
8 Favorite restaurants: ( This one I can do...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to eat!!!)
1. Sullivans Steak House (Mmmm.. The bleu cheese salad there makes me salivate!)
2. The Brewhouse (Mmmm...The bleu cheese salad here is also amazing)
3. Pandemonium (I love the fun,cozy bookstore/bistro atmosphere here...the food
is good here too,very fresh)
4. Taco Del Mar ( The giant burritos are my favorite)
5. The Mooses Tooth (gourmet pizza and home brewed cream soda)
6. Starbucks or Mocha Moose (ok... so it's not a restaurant but I think coffee is
a food group)
These last two aren't in Alaska but I have to hit them when I am out of town 7. P.F. Chang (oh the Lettuce Wraps!!!)
8. Cheesecake Factory
and a bonus... KRISPY KREME, a warm doughnut off the conveyor is heaven!8 things that happened today:
1. I ran on the treadmill (while watching What not to Wear)
2. Had a "mommy moment" when I found my oh so adorable son asleep on my bed
curled up with two plastic airplanes and his blankie.
3. Cleaned out the laundry room
4. Unloaded a freezer out of the back of my truck all by myself (it was light)
5. I found THE dress I wanted for the Chrisrmas Party at a price I can afford!!!
6. I bought a new laundry sorter
7. Wondered If Jeremy has shot a mountain goat yet...about a hundred times.
8. Finished every piece of laundry in the house.
8 things I look forward to:
1. Three week vacation in Ixtapa Mexico....Jan 12th!!!!!
2. The company Christmas party
3. Jeremy coming home tomorrow
4. Getting completely organized (Hopefully sooner than later)
5. The Macy's Thanksgiving day parade (I know I'm a dork)
6. Snowmachining on the river with Jeremy
7. Meeting my goal weight and fitting into my bikini like I did pre-babies.
8. Racing my snowmachine for the first time this winter.
8 things on my wishlist:
1. Organization
2. Patience
3. Long lasting determination
4. More time in the day
5. A Pottery Barn house.....every single room
6. Lexi's dog to be potty trained....and Landin
7. My life to reflect Jesus
8. To raise my kids to lead lives that reflect Jesus
I now tag,
Tasha,
Amberly,
Jess,
Heather, and
ChantelThe election is over and though it did not turn out as I wanted, I have to say Congratulations to Barrack Obama. I wish you and your family well in the next four years. Do America Proud.
When we went to vote this year there was a reporter there taking pictures and he took a couple of us. One of Lainie peeking out of the voting booth and one of all of us waiting in line. Lainie was so pumped when the reporter asked her name and my permission to print it in the newspaper. She said "I am going to be FAMOUS!!!" Lexi repied, "It's only fifteen minutes of fame Lainie." OH MY!!!
Here is the link to the paper, Lainie is the first in the top row and we are the fourth.
: - FrontiersmanThis past fall Lexi competed on her school's X-country running team. At the end of the year meet she had a great time, while doing really well. Out of about 100 fourth graders she finished 18th. Woo-Hoo! Way to Go Lexi!!! You are totally Rockin Awesome!
I am such a sucker when it comes to fresh snow. It has become an unintentional tradition in our house that when a significant amount of snow falls overnight, I keep the kids home and we have fun in the snow. We accumulated about 6.5 inches of snow Tuesday night. The kids had great fun sledding (or boating as Landin called it) in the backyard,and Landin was thrilled to have sissies at home to play with him. They are getting old enough to play a little less "safe" and a lot more fun. They were found sliding off the roof of the shed, and sledding down the steepest hill they could find which plows them directly into the house!!!
Oh my goodness, I could post cabin pictures all day. We have so many of them, and unlimited memories to go with them. I am thankful to be blessed so abundantly in having the opportunity to head to our mountain retreat EVERY weekend and spend time with our family. These pictures are posted in no particular order, they were just to good and to much a part of our lives to leave out.
Daddy and the kids
Happy girls....
Even happier daddy!
Our humble abode. I love it there!
Grandma and Grandpa's cabin. We love it there too!
Forging the river...
and catching doubles with Kelly.... :)
New hip waders get a thumbs up
Fresh air makes me sleepy.
Forwheeling, fishing and family...could you ask for more?
Safari Girl
Daddy, I want to drive!!
She made an awesome walking stick that day
We love our Daddy!!!
Our Grandpa is cooler than yours!!! :)
Good Morning game of Crazy Eights
Relaxin....
In the summer the only way to the cabin is by airplane. With seven families "weekend living" on this magnificent piece of land there is a fair amount of air traffic. Here is the Pepperd Fleet, minus Josh's Cessna 206.
Josh in his Producer
Jeremy in his PA-12
Greg in his PA-12
The Pepperd Fleet
A hike in the woods...
Jeremy and I halfway
Can you see the cabins WAY down there?
We made it to the top!!!
Just the boys
An eagle in the sky...a bear in the distance...
AHHHH...what a day, what a place!!
When I think about the upcoming election to be quite honest it worries me. I think I know what direction our country needs to go but it really isn't up to me. I can't help feeling helpless. I know that the best thing I can do for our country, our current leaders, future leaders, our economy, and government is to simply pray. I stumbled upon this site, which I think is great. I encourage you all to join me in prayer.
Here is the site:
href="http://www.presidentialprayerteam.net/40days/1.html">
As I sit here tonight listening to the silence of my home,(which means everyone is fast asleep) I am overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude. I am thankful for my wonderful, magnificent, amazing, husband who has loved me unconditionally and taught me so much about...well really everything. He is the most inspiring person I know and I am so grateful that he chose me all those years ago. I am thankful for my three beautiful children, each one special and unique. They add so much to my life, I can't even describe it. I am thankful for the abundance of family that I have surrounding me and the support and love they provide. I am thankful for friends, new and old. Most of all I am thankful for Jesus Christ and the blessings that he has graciously poured out onto my family. I am not worthy of his blessings and most certainly not worthy of his love and forgiveness but he is always there for me. He is always a comfort and my strength even when I don't know it or ask him to be, he is constant. I am thankful for his convictions and his call to serve him, for out of my obedience comes my biggest blessings. Thank you Jesus!!!
Well it's official, when you come to Alaska and more importantly Wasilla you can find yourself shopping at TARGET!!! Today was the soft opening, the grand opening is Sunday. Jeremy and I were invited to the special contractor opening last night. Jeremy was less than thrilled but very supportive of my enthusiasm. :) Tuesdays are our weekly "date night" and he was sweet and never complained once in the five or six laps I did around the store!! Afterwards he took me out to dinner. What a lucky girl I am! I have to admit that I'm pretty exited, Target is a huge addition to the shopping choices in Wasilla. Sad but true. :)
The girls were dying to check out the new store so after dinner was cleaned up we left the boys on the couch watching airplane movies and headed out! I think the kitchen may have been cleaned in record time. I have never seen the girls work so fast. When we got there the game plan was to browse the entire store and they could choose one item to purchase. They ended up with more than one item but only one item was an unessesary purchase. They both chose these super soft bathrobes. We have been looking for cute kiddo bath robes for a long time so they're happy and can't wait to shower in the morning.
When we got home from the cabin we decided that we had better get the most terrible job of the year (a.k.a raking) finished. There were still a few leaves on the trees but we knew that winter was coming FAST! We got the whole yard done to perfection, I think we even raked some of the driveway! It looked AWESOME, that is until twelve hours later it was buried in five inches of snow. :) We had an actually surprisingly good time with the task, Landin took a nap and the girls helped out. The job was finished with some great pictures, one broken rake, and dinner at Chili's.
This past weekend was quite eventful. We made our last trip to the cabin for the summer. When we got there Mother Nature reminded us that winter was coming. It snowed, melted, snowed, melted and snowed again all the while giving the kids plenty to do. They built the first snowmen of the year, played in the mud, fixed the melted snowmen, and so on... I cleaned out and packed things that needed to go home for the winter, kinda bittersweet, and Jeremy worked on things around the property and of course went fishing just one more time. The next time we go will be with snowmachines. I am looking forward to it! Bring on Winter!!!
A friend called the other day (actually a couple months ago but I'm behind and kinda sorta catching up)and said that her raspberry bushes were loaded and in need of a harvest. The kids and I went over to her house the next day and loaded up!!! We had lots of fun and while Landin was NO help at all...he dumped the bowl many times!!! He had fun too. When we got home I was feeling domestic (for some strange reason ) and decided an attempt to make a pie(my second pie EVER). While it was not that pretty, it tasted good and I was proud of my handiwork in the kitchen.
Here are a few pics of the 2008 Fair outing. We went on a zip strip day and so the majority of our day was spent at the rides. We snuck off to get food every now and then, but it was always back to the rides. Daddy was able to meet us there after work and went on a few "BIG KID" rides with Lexi. It made me sad to think she was old enough to want to go on them. Lainie also was allowed to ride some of them, she barey measured tall enough. Landin stayed in the stroller most of the time...mostly because I kept giving him yummy treats to eat. My "fair" train of thought was that if he was quiet and in the stroller it was better. Probably not the best parenting moment, but hey, it worked and he didn't even get a tummy ache!
On one of the rare weekends we didn't go to the cabin we decided it would be fun to head into Anchorage and watch our nephew Trey race his dirtbike. I also wanted an excuse to take pictures with my new camera. We got there too late to watch Trey but luckily we knew other racers and so we spent an enjoyable afternoon at the races. It was really dusty there and so while I did not have my camera out very long I was able to capture a few of Landin being a boy. He is so funny and I am learning the true meaning of terrible twos. The girls paled in comparison when it came to mischief. It's tons of fun though and I'm grateful for the blessing of a boy!
The title to this post may seem strange so let me explain. I am not what you would call the "pet lover" type. Our pet fish Bob was pushing it. So when my girls showed a rather large interest in animals I knew I was in BIG trouble. Lainie has wanted a bird for a very long time and after many hours she spent hatching detailed plans to catch a wild bird, and many unsuccessful attempts we knew we had to get her one for her birthday. (Now is the time to call me a softy.)
I had been researching the whole bird purchase and what else we were going to need other than the bird itself. It was proving to be a pretty spendy gift. As a last ditch effort I checked good ole Craigslist and lo and behold there was the perfect bird setup listed just that morning for the grand total of only $100 dollars!!! The down side....three birds came in the package. Yes, you read that right THREE!!!! My mother in law, Patti, was gracious enough to go pick up three birds, a huge cage, a smaller cage, and all the accessories and supplies that went with it. She took it all home scrubbed the cage from top to bottom, put a spit shine on it, then she and Greg delivered it into my walk in closet so that we could wheel it out later and surprise the heck out of the birthday girl! It worked, she was so surprised she was speechless! Thanks Patti and Greg for all the help, it is greatly appreciated! The kids named the parakeets Opal and Tika, and the cockatiel Moey.
As if the birds weren't enough for this poor mama. Lexi has had a deal with her auntie for a while now that when she bred her Yorkies she would be able to get one. Tami's dogs did have puppies but only two. One for Tami to keep and one to give as a stud fee. That left Lexi with no dog. I was crushed...He He! That was until good ole Craigslist came to my rescue once again. Tami called me (only two days after we moved the birds in)totally exited because there was a Yorkie-poo (half yorkie and half poodle) on Craiglist that had been rescued and the woman was just trying to sell it for what she had into it. Great Bargain! I'm not a girl that has been known to pass up a great bargain so I told Tami to see if it was still available and sure enough he was. Tami and I drove down to Soldotna the next day and picked up Rosco our six week old, one pound,(at the time) peeing, pooping, chewing, (still doing these things)newest addition to our farm!!! Ugh... now you can say I am losing my mind!
I have come to the realization that there is no way I am going to get my blog caught up AND have fabulously written and well thought out posts. My attempt to "catch up" will consist of a few mediocre posts and lots of cute pics!
We will start way back in August with Lainie's birthday on August 13th. It was a really low key day that turned out fantabulous. (My own made up word, silly but I LOVE it!!!)We went to a small park at the lake and the kids had a blast playing on the playground, feeding the ducks, and flying kites. I can't believe that she is six years old already. Thank you Lainie for being exactly who you are. You are such a blessing. Thank you Jesus for the gift of a beautiful, special, thoughtful, kind, chatterbox, fireball of a girl, that you gave us six years ago.
NOTE: My birthday was also on the 12th of August and my totally awesome husband spoiled me once again with a Nikon SLR digital camera. I am soooo exited and have been researching all the lenses and different things I can do with my "new toy". You will notice that my posts will have many more pictures now. I hope you enjoy them.
I snuck into her room and decorated while she was sleeping so she could wake up to a party! She was thrilled.
Elated to be the birthday girl!
The kids...
The gifts...
The candles...
The cake...
The six year old!!!!
Fun times with the kite. Thanks Faith and Gabe!
He kept stealing all the gumdrops
Here ducky, ducky, ducky!
What an exiting day to be an Alaskan and from Wasilla no less! Go Sarah! Go McCain! Politics just got alot more interesting. I'm actually looking forward to the campaigning.
Hello everyone,
I hope all of you are well. We have been up to everything and really nothing all at once, which means that we have been busy but not doing much that is blog worthy. What have we been doing then you ask? I have been working hard at letting God cultivate new life and habits in me that will allow me to be the wife and mother that I am called and commanded to be. There has been alot of GOD searching and conviction going on around here. Which has led to alot of organizing,cleaning,cooking,and even baking (I baked a pie)!!! Yes, all of that lovely domestic stuff that I am soooo fond of. :) The kids and Jeremy have LOVED the gift(I say gift because it is only by the grace of GOD) of a more "domestic" and calm mother. They both got new pets (I will post about that later) and enjoyed their last days of summer vacation. Jeremy has been busy at work and has tried to hop in the plane every chance he gets. The kids have started school and we have established our new routines. Things are going wonderfully right now. Join me in praying that our family will continue striving to glorify God.
I have many new posts in mind and I promise I will post them soon. Please help me to keep in contact with all of you. I started blogging to keep in touch with all of my scattered family and friends. I would love any comments, critisism, advice, and/or encouragement. Anyone is more than welcome to post a comment! Please do, it makes it more fun!
Yesterday was one of the rare days this summer. Rare you ask? Yes, rare because the sun actually came out!!! We took advantage of it and had a real summer day. The kids broke out the swimsuits and ran through the sprinkler while I mowed the lawn. We had a picnic outside complete with corn on the cob and to top it all of the ice cream truck came!!! The ice cream truck is one of those classic summertime traditions that seems to be dying. It does my heart good when you can hear the chimes in the distance and then the overpowered sounds of excitement and panic. I think kids are born with super tuned ears for the ice cream truck. They always hear the music way before an adult ever does. It always cracks me up to watch the panic that sets into a kid when they hear the sounds of the ice cream truck getting closer and closer. If they are outside (which they most always are) the scramble they go into, to get in the house, break into the piggy bank, and get back out to the road before they miss the truck! Yesterday was no exception. They were soaking wet covered in grass clippings when they came whooshing through the house screaming with excitement. They did make it to the truck and both girls ordered up bubblegum popsicles.
Waiting for the truck.....
It's Coming.....
Two bubblegum popsicles please....
Thank You!!!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!
Homemade water slide!
I say success because if you know my children mainly my oldest you know that they are REALLY picky eaters. In the last few weeks I have been thinking about nutrition and whether or not my family was getting enough of it. I have been racking my brain about how to get my kids (and Jeremy) to get their full daily servings of fruits and veggies. I figured if I could get the fruits and veggies by them the protein and dairy would be easy. I was folding laundry the other day and flipped Oprah on to keep my mind occupied while I did this mindless task. Jessica Seinfeld was on the show talking about her book, "Deceptively Delicious". I had heard about this book but had never taken the time to see what it was all about.
It is essentially a cookbook that teaches you to "hide" fruits and veggies in everything from chicken nuggets to chocolate cake. The idea is that you steam and puree your veggies and then incorporate them into whatever! I was skeptical at first but Oprah kept taste testing and every time it was oohs and ahhhs! I had been hooked! The next time I was a the store I bought the book, an armload of veggies, and a steamer.
That was yesterday and the girls were sick and taking naps while I steamed and pureed...it was perfect! Now keep in mind that Lexi saw the book and while she doesn't know what is in the book she knows I am up to something. She keeps walking around the house saying "I am watching you". I have to be VERY careful or she will discover my deviousness and flat refuse to eat anything.
Ok back to the success part. This morning with a fridge and freezer stocked full of veggie puree I was dying to try this out. When the girls asked for eggs I was thrilled! I quickly went to work and carefully pulled a bag of cauliflower puree out of the fridge along with a few other misc. ingredients just to throw Lexi off in case she wandered in. She did wander in and asked what I was up to and that she saw the book. UH-OH!!! I did end up shoeing her out of the kitchen, sneaking a 1/4 cup (1/2 cup raw) of cauliflower in with 6 eggs and served them looking perfectly normal! The entire time she was looking at me crossways as I was holding my breath in anticipation of the first bite. SUCCESS!!! All three kids not only cleaned their plate but I got a "very, very tasty" from Lexi! You can bet I will be trying many more recipes in the future! I will keep you all posted on my success!
